Experiences from around the world.

I had to start with that, because a little bird friend of mine at a powerful network just told me that his Atlanta based network doesn’t care about news from Africa. Which is shameful and well, pisses me off.

Why should you care about what is happening or about to happen between Somalia and Ethiopia? It’s pretty pathetic that one has to sell the idea about being concerned for humans wherever they may live, who may face great suffering and death on a mass and unecessary scale.

But I’ll do it anyway. Because after watching the preludes and advances toward conflict between the two countries in the last 6 months, today’s announcement of a holy war against Ethiopia by the Somali Islamists, who control much of the country, sounds like confirmation that a terrible battle has begun and will rage for who knows how long. Hundreds of thousands of refugees… people.. who find themselves in the middle of these armies as they try to murder each other, will lose what little they have and possibly their lives.

Ethiopia, for its part, has a very large military (we’re talking several hundred thousand according to the worldfactbook) and have long said they won’t allow the Islamists to take over their neighboring country. They already have what they call, military advisors in the country, which is the cute way the US invented during the cold war to talk about troops that are illegally and covertly fighting in another country.

Anyway I’d rather keep this to one basic point. The signs are already here; an emerging and serious conflict has taken root and now is the time to get involved from an international community position, apply pressure and find creative solutions BEFORE this war escalates. If not.. it will escalate, and a year from now people will ask how this happened, and remark how terrible it all is.